What’s Past is Prologue

We all were sea-swallow’d, though some cast again,
And by that destiny to perform an act
Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come
In yours and my discharge.
– Antonio in William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”

The phrase “what’s past is prologue,” uttered by Antonio from Act 2, Scene I perfectly sums up the essence of this blog.

To understand this better, here’s a little bit of backstory for you: Antonio, in his speech, was trying to convince Sebastian to kill his sleeping father so that Sebastian could then take his place as king.

“What’s past is prologue” meant that everything that happened before, served to lead up to that very moment for them, and, if they came through with that deed (evil as it may be) the possibilities that awaited them, would then be endless.

While I am not the biggest Shakespeare reader, and I must admit that most of his works that I read, I did so for school or for work, I beg to disagree with claims that he is overrated as a writer.

Sure, the guy has had his ups and downs, but try having every single high school Literature class read your work to ultimately form an opinion – and see if you can stand against them without blame.

Besides, Shakespeare has his moments. I think the line “what’s past is prologue” is definitely one of those.

Here’s why.

“Someday, someone will come along and make sense of the past,” said a good friend, back when I was in my “Dark Ages.” Maybe one of these days, I’ll muster up enough courage, and not to mention, star power, to blog about this plaintive period, so to speak.

But back to my anecdote, turns out my friend was right.

Someone did come along, and not only did he make sense of the past, he gave me something to look forward to.

Which leads me to this blog, Such is Wife, a.k.a., Cha’s (that’s me, by the way) attempt, albeit a rather poor one, at making sense of life. Also my way of talking about things I wish people would have talked to me about. Forget vengeance, getting back at people is overrated anyway. Let’s face it: relief is the new retribution. [Tweet this]

Most, but not all, of the posts will be stories of my mini-adventures, reviews of things that I am deeply interested in, poetry, short stories and music.

So there you have it: thespian Shakespeare quote (exposition)  + context analysis-ish (rising action) + not-so-profound correlation (climax) + love life in a nutshell (falling action) + blog synopsis (dénouement) = the drama that is my first post.

Not the most solid Freytag’s pyramid, I am well aware.

But then again, such is wife.

Have a love/hate relationship with Shakespeare, and blogging, perhaps? Let’s bond over it on Twitter and Instagram.

---

Charity Johnson is a freelance writer and singer-songwriter.
“Such is Wife” is the telling (and retelling) of her geographical and ideological whereabouts.